Domestic violence
What about the technical devices for protecting victims?
Electronic bracelet, but also watch or emergency button: victims protection tools are struggling to see the light of day. For what?
Victims of domestic violence are mainly women (image of illustration).
Getty Images
- Federal advisor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider called, last week, an extraordinary session in reaction to the high number of feminicides recorded in the country.
- Technical means are one of the fields of action of the Confederation roadmap and cantons against domestic violence.
- Few cantons have set up pilot projects to test technical solutions.
- Experts recommend better intercantonal coordination against domestic violence.
In response to the high number of feminicides, the federal councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider called, last week, an extraordinary session to strengthen the fight against domestic violence. At the end of this one, Urgent measures have been defined And a call for strong and concerted political action has been launched. Since the start of the year, 18 women were killed.
The Confederation and the cantons, however, adopted a roadmap in 2021 on domestic violencecovering areas such as threat management, victim assistance or electronic surveillance. On this last point, the Faculty of Law of the University of Bern noted, in a October 2024 report, that “several cantons already use electronic surveillance or emergency systems as a preventive basis in the context of domestic violencealthough the framework conditions differ […] And that the variants are numerous (system or technique used, field of application, form of surveillance), reflecting the federalism of Switzerland “.
Wouldn’t “federalism” have a good back to cover the delay on this file? In 2022, the Civil Code has a new article, on 28cwhich allows victims of domestic violence of all the cantons to ask the judge to order “the port by the author of the damage of an unpleasant electronic device to determine and record at any time where it is”. But this surveillance is only passive: the offense being found only posteriori …
And however that this device is used. “We who work in the field and who accompany the victims, these passive surveillance bracelets, we do not see them,” says Muriel Golay, director of the Lavi Center in Geneva, who supports people who have undergone physical, mental or sexual violence. Currently, victims must count on respect by the author of the prohibitions to which he was condemned, and if he does not respect them, to report it to the police, which they may have the difficulty in doing. This situation does not give them a feeling of security adapted to the severity of the facts suffered. ”
Electronic active surveillance, with intervention almost in real time and twenty-four hours out of twenty-four, has proven itself in Spain. In 2023 and 2024, it was tested in Zurich. The assessment of the experience is expected between this year and the next one.
Electronic active monitoring is also supported by a parliamentary initiative, already filed in 2022, so that the principle ofSuch monitoring is introduced in federal legislation. But the implementation of this tool has just been postponed …
A device of the geolocation beacon by GPS, or electronic bracelet (illustration image).
IMAGO/SNA
Other victims protection systems
Passive electronic bracelet is not the only technical tool for protecting victims. The report of the University of Bern also evokes watches and emergency pimples, or a system of double geolocation author and victim. These pilot projects remain rare. Only a few cantons have launched.
In French -speaking Switzerland, Following the feminicide of ÉpagnyFriborg promised measures against domestic violence. “The different technical systems will be assessed,” said the Directorate of Security, Justice and Sport. In the canton of the Jura, no type button or emergency watch in view. In Valais, the same: no pilot project is being developed. In Geneva, on the other hand, there is one, announced in February 2024 already. What are the contours, the first results? “Unfortunately, it’s just a little too early to answer you,” regrets the department of institutions and digital.
A button and a beacon against domestic violence
The canton of Vaud has implemented, since April 2023 in Yverdon, a pilot project entitled Adrien. It consists of a tag which can be geolocated and which allows the victims who have access to it to issue a silent alert and to get in touch with a private security center.
On the side of Neuchâtel, it has been ten years that an alarm device has been tested for ten years. “It consists of a small portable box with GPS, active at all times and discreet, equipped with a button allowing to discreetly send an alarm with geopositioning to the emergency Neuchâtel (CNU), explains the police commander Sami Hafsi. Target people are given on the basis of an in -depth analysis of the situation and the threats in question, and is the subject of a decision by a judicial police officer. This results in a mission order which poses the sequence of actions that will trigger an alert. ” Four boxes are used.
This case reassures the victims, indicates Céline Vara, a Neuchâtel state councilor. “The system, alone, is not everything. It is only one more tool, which in no way replaces the other means implemented to prevent and fight against domestic violence. ”
Other solutions than the electronic bracelet
Muriel Golay, from the Lavi center in Geneva, recalls that it is not only the devices that justice can order the author to wear. “There are alarm buttons or smartphone applications on the market – comme The Sorority, For example – which allow the victim to ask for help. I am reserved in certain aspects, but they can undoubtedly contribute to supporting the person in the organization of their protection and strengthening their feeling of security. Which is too often forgotten in the objectives of fighting violence. ”
Within the Equality and violence Prevention Promotion Office (BPEV), Emilie Flemish participates in the coordination of the fight against domestic violence in Geneva. Like all the stakeholders we have consulted, she calls for more cooperation between the cantons. “It would take a concordat, or intercantonal agreements, illustrates the director. In a territory as small and fragmented as Switzerland, the idea that 26 different systems can be effective seems to be difficult to believe. ”
To develop a national electronic surveillance solution, the Conference of Directors of the Cantonal Justice and Police Departments (CCDJP) created the Electronic Monitoring Association (EM). His new president, Vassilis Venizelos, says he wants to get things done (read our interview).
Emilie Flemish wishes to recall that the technical devices for the protection of victims of domestic violence are only a tiny part of a much larger system to set up. “Feminicides do not occur suddenly. This is generally the end point of a long escalation of controls, threats and violence. It is on the early detection of these situations that must be worked. ”
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